MALTING AND BREWING SCIENCE: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES*,†

Exploiting Non-Conventional Yeasts for Low-Alcohol Beer Production

Non-Saccharomyces yeasts represent a very appealing alternative to producing beers with zero or low ethanol content. The current study explores the potential of seven non-Saccharomyces yeasts to produce low-alcohol or non-alcoholic beer, in addition to engineered/selected Saccharomyces yeasts for low-alcohol production. The yeasts were first screened for their sugar consumption and ethanol production profiles, leading to the selection of strains with absent or inefficient maltose consumption and consequently with low-to-null ethanol production. The selected yeasts were then used in larger-scale fermentations for volatile and sensory evaluation. Overall, the yeasts produced beers with ethanol concentrations below 1.2% in which fusel alcohols and esters were also detected, making them eligible to produce low-alcohol beers. Among the lager beers produced in this study, beers produced using Saccharomyces yeast demonstrated a higher acceptance by taster panelists. This study demonstrates the suitability of non-conventional yeasts for producing low-alcohol or non-alcoholic beers and opens perspectives for the development of non-conventional beers.

Starch granule size: Does it matter?

Nature has developed starch granules varying in size from less than 1 μm to more than 100 μm. The granule size is an important factor affecting the functional properties and the applicability of starch for food and non-food applications. Within the same botanical species, the range of starch granule size can be up to sevenfold. This review critically evaluated the biological and environmental factors affecting the size of starch granules, the methods for the separation of starch granules and the measurement of size distribution. Further, the structure at different length scales and properties of starch-based on the granule size is elucidated by specifying the typical applications of granules with varying sizes. An amylopectin cluster model showing the arrangement of amylopectin from inside toward the granule surface is proposed with the hypothesis that the steric hindrance for the growth of lamellar structure may limit the size of starch granules.

Simultaneous determination of diethylacetal and acetaldehyde during beer fermentation and storage process

BACKGROUND

Acetaldehyde is an important flavor component in beer which is possibly carcinogenic to humans. Owing to the limitations of present detection methods, only free-state acetaldehyde in beers has been focused on, while acetal in beers has hardly been reported so far.

RESULTS

A sensitive headspace gas chromatography method was developed for the determination of diethylacetal and acetaldehyde in beer. The column DB-23 was chosen with a total run time of 22.5 min. The optimal addition amount of NaCl, equilibrium temperature and equilibrium time were 2.0 g, 70 °C and 30 min respectively. For both diethylacetal and acetaldehyde analyses, the limit of detection was 0.005 mg L^-1 with relative standard deviation < 5.5%. The recoveries of acetaldehyde and diethylacetal were 95-110 and 95-115% respectively. The diethylacetal and acetaldehyde average contents in 24 beer products were 11.83 and 4.36 mg L^-1 respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient between diethylacetal and acetaldehyde was the highest (0.963). Both diethylacetal and acetaldehyde contents increased to a peak value after fermentation for 3 days and then decreased to a lower value. During both normal and forced aging storage, the diethylacetal content decreased and the acetaldehyde content increased gradually over time. When beers were forced aged for 4 days, the increased ratio of acetaldehyde could be above 40.00%.

CONCLUSION

The newly established method can be used to assess acetaldehyde level and flavor quality in beer more scientifically. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

Physicochemical, thermal and rheological properties of starches isolated from malting barley varieties

The aim of this work was to characterize physicochemical, thermal and rheological properties of starches isolated from malting barley varieties. The analyzed starches contained 19.6-25.2 g of amylose, 42.47-70.67 mg of phosphorus, 0.50-1.26 g of protein and 0.10-0.61 g of fat per 100 g of starch dry mass. The clarity of the 1 % (w/w) starch pastes ranged from 5.4 to 9.8 %. Values of the characteristic gelatinization temperatures were in the ranges of 56.5-58.5 °C, 61.2-63.0 °C and 66.7-68.7 °C, respectively for TO, TP and TE, whereas values of gelatinization enthalpy were from 6.49 to 9.61 J/g. The barley starches showed various tendency to retrogradation, from 24.52 to 44.22 %, measured as R = ∆HR/∆HG value. The pasting curves showed differences in pasting characteristics of the barley starches, where values of peak (PV) and final (FV) viscosities were 133-230 mPa·s and 224-411 mPa·s, respectively. The barley starch pastes exhibited non-Newtonian, shear thinning flow behaviour and thixotropy phenomenon. After cooling the starch gels showed different viscoelastic properties, however, most of them behaved like weak gels (tan δ = G″/G' > 0.1). Significant linear correlations between the parameters of pasting characteristic and some rheological parameters were found.

Genotypic and environmental variation in barley limit dextrinase activity and its relation to malt quality

Variation in the limit dextrinase activity of barley malt, and the relationships between limit dextrinase activity and malt quality parameters were investigated using eight cultivars grown at seven diverse locations in China for two successive years. Limit dextrinase activity varied with genotype and location, with the levels ranging from 0.245 U/g to 0.980 U/g. The results showed that the variation in limit dextrinase activity was more attributable to the environment (location and year) than to the genotype. The response of limit dextrinase activity to the environment differed markedly among cultivars, and was reflected by large difference in coefficient of variation of cultivars across diverse locations. Regression analysis showed that limit dextrinase activity was negatively correlated with malt viscosity (r=-0.52, P<0.01), positively correlated with Kolbach index (r=0.38, P<0.01) and malt extract (r=0.30, P<0.05), but had no significant correlation with malt protein content and diastatic power.

Ascorbic acid-based inhibitors of alpha-amylases

A series of ascorbic acid and isoascorbic acid derivatives has been evaluated as inhibitors of malt, bacterial, fungal, pancreatic and salivary alpha-amylases using a simple and quick assay procedure. The results demonstrate that the enediol moiety of ascorbic acid is essential for alpha-amylase inhibition. Acylation of the primary and secondary alcohols, and the absolute configuration of the secondary alcohol, do not affect the potency of inhibition.